This Devoted Life: The WordGirl Serial
by LaptopWriter22
Summary: Everyone knows a superhero's job is to sacrifice everything for her city. But how much can one give and still survive? There are some who would like to test that theory. My long WordGirl story is here, guys! Rated T for some violence in later chapters, nothing too terrible, I think. Contains ToBecky.
1. Double Disaster

This Devoted Life: The WordGirl Serial

Part One: Double Disaster

_**Disclaimer: I do not own WordGirl**_

The entire hospital glared white. White-clad nurses rushed about, avoiding white-clad doctors. The walls, sometimes dulled to light yellow with the many doors and openings serving as wax cells, almost reminded one of a hive, and the bustling physicians needed little transformation to become bees. A lone being, dressed in a red costume sharply defined in contrast to the white wall, darkly noted that on their rush for the easement of the human body and mind, the white figures never stopped to tell her anything.

The costumed girl continued to wait, eyeing a nearby door in the ICU. Her piercing dark eyes pleaded with every doctor that walked by to tell her something, anything. As the minutes ticked by, WordGirl's agitated movements became more pronounced and her gaze more intense.

Finally, a doctor trudged out the door WordGirl had been staring at. He looked resignedly at WordGirl and silently beckoned her over. She floated toward him so quickly that a lock of long, glossy brown hair, hidden so carefully under her hood, almost slipped into view. She caught the curl, pushed it impatiently back, and focused all her burning energy on the doctor. They walked down the hall a little way out of the busyness. Then, WordGirl faced the doctor. The poor man felt her gaze was burning a hole in him and seeing straight through him. It could have been that she was; WordGirl had both super sight and, now that she had matured, X-ray eyes.

"Well?" she asked anxiously. "What about Tobey?"

The doctor swallowed. He hated to be the one to tell her the unwelcome news. WordGirl had arrived at the hospital, upset and unbelieving, as soon as she had heard about the accident. Looking at her now, he wondered if the rumors of WordGirl's secret feelings for Tobey had been true. Even if not, the city's famed superhero certainly had not expected this to happen to Tobey McCallister.

But then, no one had.

"Tobey McCallister's condition is critical," the doctor heard himself say. WordGirl's eyes dropped from the doctor to the floor as her shoulders slumped. She suddenly seemed much smaller and more vulnerable. Her vital vigorous energy had completely drained out of her in that one moment. "But it could change," the doctor hastened to add.

"May I see him?" WordGirl asked. The steady, alive gaze returned, a little less painful.

"I'm afraid not, until he wakes up. He wouldn't recognize you anyway," the doctor replied. He instinctively sought relief from WordGirl's eyes. "You should go home," he said. "We'll notify you if he improves."

"If he-" the superhero repeated dully. She clamped her lips on the rest of the sentence and nodded. "Thank you," she said quietly. She floated down the corridor, streaking faster and faster until she was lost from view.

Exactly fifteen seconds later, WordGirl arrived at her secret space ship. Grounded on Earth many years ago, it served as her base of operations. She found it still and silent. "Huggy?" she called. She scanned the ship from where she was with her super sight and hearing and discovered a note hidden in an old room. WordGirl couldn't help smiling at the note's location. Her monkey sidekick, Huggy, might have been slowing down a little, but his mind was as sharp and thoughtful as ever. The T.V. built into the crime detector had been on, so Huggy must have heard of the news surrounding Tobey and cleared out to give WordGirl some time alone, leaving a note to tell her where he was going.

WordGirl sped to the room that her super sight had spotted the note in and switched on the light. It revealed a room filled with shelves of unicorns on all sides. WordGirl touched one of her favorites with a guilty smile. When friends and relatives hinted that a girl her age shouldn't have _Pretty Princess_ based figurines prominently displayed in her room, she had transferred all her old unicorns to her space ship. Now she felt that she shouldn't be so much in love with them at her age, so she'd shut them up in a storage room and denied herself the pleasure of looking at them for a few months now. Huggy's note had changed that, and WordGirl found herself going through each shelf, remembering. She stopped at Angel Face, one of her least lucky figurines, and thought about all the misadventures the poor thing had been through. And soon, she started to cry, a little at first, and then all out sobs.

"Why can't it be the same as when we were younger and everything didn't have to be so complicated?" she cried. Scenes of her little brother, her parents, and _Pretty Princess_ ran through her mind. A lost love with a confident smile flickered across her thoughts a few times; something WordGirl also did not allow herself to think about often.

And, as she let him, Tobey, too, crept in uninvited; the roses he had thrown at her once from the heights of his robot, the times she had pushed her face into his to try to scare him and he'd only smiled, the time when, for one moment, she had let him throw his arms around her because she was too surprised to move, his dream day with her… the scenes ran on and on. WordGirl wondered if she'd have a chance to tell Tobey that she was sorry for not answering when she should have.

Finally, WordGirl forced herself to stop crying and leaned on one of the shelves. She had to stop thinking about Tobey. The city's rumors of her love for him just because he'd grown up a little more weren't true. What would the press say if they could see her now, blubbering away over him? It was his fault that he was hospitalized, anyway. He had been lying to her as usual, it seemed.

But the thought that sat simmering in the back of WordGirl's mind remained, _If I had just arrived on time, he wouldn't be…_

WordGirl walked around to Princess Beauty, who shimmered as much as ever, and lifted the unicorn. She found Huggy's note and unfolded it. Huggy wrote to her in pictures. There were two well-drawn notices. The first was Huggy himself, with his old humorously annoyed look on his face, coming out of a store laden with groceries. WordGirl would have smiled if she had felt like it. The space ship's food supply had been running low for a while, as Huggy had been reminding her.

The second notice depicted a blond girl with a dreamy expression sitting on a park bench. A clock above the girl's head was set to eleven. WordGirl clapped her hand to her head. She had forgotten about her long time best friend Violet Heaslip's invitation yesterday to meet Becky Botsford in the park in the emotion of the morning. Violet had sounded upset over the phone, too. WordGirl thought briefly about canceling, but dismissed the idea and looked at her watch. 10:58. Oh, well; she wasn't late yet. She had told Huggy when she was twelve, "One of the best things about being a superhero is that you're never tardy until the minute you're supposed to be there."

WordGirl flew toward the park until she saw its green edge rejoicing in the spring. Then, she landed behind a huge tree and touched her red star. Suddenly, with a flash of light, she was just Becky Botsford on a casual meeting with her best friend. Never mind that her world had just been rocked off its foundations.

Becky sighed and straightened her outfit as she walked toward Violet. As she approached, she saw that Violet's eyes were puffy, and she was twisting a handkerchief in her hands. She was sitting in front of her easel, and her poetry tablet rested beside her, but both were blank. Becky walked faster, now concerned for her friend. Violet, who always saw only the rose-colored side of life, crying like that? And Becky had never known Violet to sit in a park or any outdoor area for a moment without either painting or writing poetry. Violet heard Becky coming at that moment and looked up. She smiled wanly at Becky for a moment.

"Becky!" she exclaimed in her old way, but her face remained troubled. "I'm so glad you could come." Becky sat down beside Violet.

"Hello, Vi," she said, knowing that Violet would not be hurried. She would tell Becky what was on her mind soon enough. Becky wondered, though, if something had happened with Scoops again. Violet and Scoops had been dating exclusively for two months now. From the first day when Violet had joyfully brought Becky the news, she had known that Todd "Scoops" Ming was beyond all reach now. With that knowledge, Becky had put her love for the young reporter behind her, cried alone for a while, and then renewed her friendship with Violet. She'd seen Scoops a few times since then with Violet, but avoided meeting him without her.

These days, Violet had been hinting that Scoops was changing somehow, but she hadn't elaborated and Becky didn't press her for details. However, Becky had noticed something about Scoops when she saw him a few weeks ago. The gleam in his eyes had changed from cheerful to driven. They had looked obsessed, Becky remembered, and with nothing good.

"I saw Tobey's accident on the news," Violet said, trying to make small talk. "Who would've thought a boy that went to school with us would end up like that? I wonder why WordGirl wasn't there sooner."

"I wonder," Becky repeated, dulling her voice in contrast to the sudden twinge within her.

"I guess a lot of people end up bad," Violet said softly. She blinked twice,

hard.

"What do you mean?" Becky asked, stiffening.

"Maybe even dead," Violet went on, oblivious to Becky's question. She sniffed, and a tear escaped her blue eye and streaked down her face. "Becky, have you heard of the DWGI?" she asked.

"That's a terrible acronym," Becky said, glancing at Violet. Violet didn't smile.

"It stands for 'Discover WordGirl's Identity," Violet went on

seriously.

"Who hasn't?" Becky asked. "A group of 'ruthless' young reporters determined to uncover WordGirl's identity is hard not to hear about. But they haven't done anything really drastic; mostly just talked about it. I think it's kind of silly; after all, they're just a bunch of teenagers and young people. How could they manage to do what Fair City's greatest villains haven't been able to?"

"They'll make better progress now," Violet replied. She shook her head worriedly. "Scoops will make sure of that."

Becky stood as if she had been pulled to her feet. "Scoops?" she echoed.

Violet nodded. "Scoops joined the DWGI two days ago, Becky," she announced, rocking herself back and forth on the stone border she sat on. "He seems to think it'll be easy to discover WordGirl's identity. He'll tell them all how, and then…" She trailed off. "_I_ couldn't even stop him," she added.

Becky's eyes widened. Scoops was genuinely clever, cunning, and obsessed with WordGirl's identity. He'd been more trouble to WordGirl than the villains lately. His involvement with such a rash group of teenagers could indeed be fatal-for both WordGirl and himself. Becky sat, trying to understand how all of this had happened. Scoops and Tobey, in trouble at the same time! Becky knew she should say something to comfort her friend and assure herself that everything would be all right, but she couldn't think of a thing to say. Looking down at her friend, a thought came to her mind: "Double Disaster."

"Come on, Violet," Becky said finally, standing up and pulling the other girl to her feet. "Let's go home." Violet nodded and hugged her back, but as Becky supported her friend, she could only think of the irony that she, the great superhero, was probably about to become the hunted.

And who in the world would look out for WordGirl?

What will become of Tobey-and Scoops?

Is WordGirl _really_ guilty of Tobey's tragic accident?

_How involved is Scoops in this new association?_

_WHAT REALLY HAPPENED_?

These questions will be further explored in:

This Devoted Life Part Two: The Gift of Life


	2. The Gift of Life

This Devoted Life: The WordGirl Serial

Part Two: The Gift of Life

Becky sat on the couch in the living room, numbly flipping through the channels. After thirty-six draining hours of no word from the hospital, a cluster of reporters had gathered to give information about Tobey McCallister's condition on the hour. This was the second report that had come in so far.

"Once again, I am sorry to say that there has been no change for the young robot maker Tobey McCallister," the blond anchorwoman in a pink dress droned. "This accident was widely unexpected because of Tobey's recent encouraging course change toward decency. After this, it appears that the chance was a front for his new, supposedly unstoppable robot that he tried to build. The whole affair has shaken the city. For Fair City news, I'm Loretta Sanchez-Johnson, outside the hospital."

Becky switched off the T.V. and buried her face in her hands. Her long brown

hair fell around her as her thoughts swirled wildly. _This is my fault,_ a thought pushed to the front of her mind. _This has to be a dream._ She sat there for what seemed like hours, trembling, thinking of the way she had treated Tobey during the last week, holding him at arm's length, brushing off his frankly worded thoughts about going straight with a cynical, "I've heard that before." She remembered the smell of the spring grass on the hill in the park when he'd told her of his plans to go into robotics and forsake villainy, the tiny spark in her heart that she'd smothered when he had, and the hurt distress in his eyes when she dismissed his words again.

And then, a few days later, she flew into his house after he'd left a desperate-sounding message on her phone and found him stretched semi-conscious on the floor, the beginnings of a monstrous metal robot beside him.

"I should have answered the phone," Becky said dully to the hot, stifling air around her. "I thought he was going to pester me with that going good stuff again. If I had just answered the phone, I could have gotten there sooner and he wouldn't be-like this. Even if it was his fault that he's there now. It is his fault-isn't it?"

Becky slid down off the couch and stared at her kneeling image reflected in the television, trying to recognize herself there. The reflection looked like a more troubled version of the same person she had seen in the mirror before, but Becky knew better. This girl was entirely different. This girl was utterly defeated. She was upset and hurt-because, no matter how hard she'd tried not to, she had trusted Tobey. Becky sighed, pulled herself up, and started for her room.

A loud squeak dissuaded Becky from her slow walk upstairs. Bob burst through the door and hopped over to the couch, motioning madly to the television. Becky switched it on. "Okay, I get it," she said, a bit of irritation surfacing in her voice. "Although how you can watch T.V. at a time like this-" Bob motioned to her to be quiet. The television flipped on to the same channel Becky had just been watching. A doctor from the hospital was talking now.

"Again, it is imperative that you come, WordGirl. We can't save Tobey without you. If you are watching, please-"

Becky switched off the T.V., pressed her hand to her shirt, and flew off in a few seconds, leaving, as she did in pressing or exciting moments, without Bob. The monkey sidekick put on his trademark annoyed look and trudged outside to flag another bus.

Becky Botsford might have been a nervous wreck, but WordGirl had never flown so quickly. She spotted the television cameras and the doctor in the middle of entreating her to come and touched down, her energy trail making a sound reminiscent of squealing brakes. Cameras snapped. WordGirl had a fleeting impulse to scream at the reporters. Glancing at them, their eyes contained the same ambition as Scoops'. WordGirl shuddered instead of screaming and turned to the doctor.

"How can I help?" she asked.

"WordGirl. Thank you for coming so quickly," he replied. "I'll tell you inside." WordGirl followed him gladly, anxious for the hallways where the reporters could not go.

"I'm Doctor Grant," the gray-haired man introduced himself as they walked down the hall. "I take care of cases in the ICU, but I have also been interested in your unusual powers. I think you can use them to help Tobey the way you helped the woman in the burning building two months ago."

"I helped her with my powers?" WordGirl echoed. "All I did was take her out of there." Doctor Grant shook his head.

"That wasn't all," he explained, his voice building with excitement. "She had been bleeding heavily; probably hurt somehow shortly before the fire broke out, remember?"

"She was when I got to her," WordGirl recalled.

"But by the time you came out with her, the bleeding had stopped, and we were able to save her life with transfusions because of that," Doctor Grant said. "After researching your powers, WordGirl, I have come to a remarkable conclusion. Your love for this city and the citizens in it flows out of you-literally."

"How?" WordGirl asked, frowning.

"You wanted to save that woman, so your feelings sort of reacted with your powers to heal her. It probably happens by physical contact, so it would have been when you carried her out. You might not have even noticed at the time, but you gave a little bit of your powers to that woman to save her. I know because I was the doctor who examined her. Thanks to the scans and research about you done by your former friend Doctor Steven Boxleitner when you were younger, we know how your powers appear on a screen. When I looked the scan of that woman, I detected a little of your powers inside her."

"You mean, people get superpowers from me?" WordGirl gasped.

"Not in that way," the doctor hastened to clarify. "As far as I can tell, when your powers enter a person's bloodstream, they dissolve rather like a medicine capsule and become the strength needed for recovery. The people do not gain superpowers, only health."

"It sounds strange," WordGirl said.

"It is. It's probably a Lexiconian trait," Doctor Grant explained. "I wish we had more of your people on Earth so that I could study this. Think how it would work on Lexicon; it could be a normal trait there! The power to literally give oneself away for those one loves, making life a gift…I wonder if that actually happens on the Word Storm planet…"

The doctor's voice faded in and out of WordGirl's consciousness as he led her down the hall. She followed, her heart beating more and more wildly with the stress of the moment, until he stopped at the door to a hospital room. WordGirl's heart slowed into a steady, ominous beat, knocking her heart against the wall of her chest over and over again. A cold sweat broke out on her forehead. She wished the doctor would open the door.

"…by yourself?" WordGirl turned to Doctor Grant.

"What?" she asked, her mind slowly pulling itself up from the fog it had been in during the last few seconds.

"I said, I suppose you would like to go in alone," Doctor Grant said, his kindly face wreathed in understanding. WordGirl nodded.

"I'll be out here," Doctor Grant assured her. He began to open the door but stopped with his hand on the knob. "Oh, I didn't think to mention this," he said slowly. "We're all physicians here and used to it. But I suppose you've seen your share of bad injuries, being a superhero-"

"I saw him when it first happened," WordGirl told him.

"He's worse now," Doctor Grant said quietly. "I'm just warning you."

"Thank you," WordGirl whispered as the doctor opened the door. She took two steps inside the room. The door shut behind her. Suddenly, it was dark except for a window across from the bed with the curtains pulled back. WordGirl dragged herself forward, not sure if she wanted to see Tobey or not, or maybe desperately wanting to and dreading the revelation at the same time. All she could discern at that moment was a web-like network of IVs and needles attached to a lump in the bed. WordGirl kept going, closer and closer…

And then she couldn't stand it anymore and flew, spanning the distance in a millisecond and landing gasping at Tobey's bedside on her knees. For a long moment, she couldn't bear to look up, but she finally mastered herself and slowly raised her head.

She gasped and nearly cried out at the sight of Tobey's face. Harshly reflected in the light from the window in contrast from the darkened room, it stood out in nightmarish detail. A light purple bruise with a blue sheen in the middle of it covered his left cheek, and almost all of his right cheek was throbbing and swollen with a deep reddish welt. Bandages obscured his right eye. Horrified, WordGirl searched through the wrappings with her X-ray vision, hoping it hadn't been damaged. She sighed with relief as she realized it was only a black eye, though a very bad one. WordGirl stared at him lying there, thinking that this couldn't possibly be Tobey. Not hurt like that…

Tobey's blond hair, stringy with the remainder of dried blood, fell limply over a red mark in the middle of his forehead. WordGirl took a breath, her hand hovering uncertainly over his face. Finally, with a conscious effort, she gently stroked his hair back from his forehead. A small cut appeared. WordGirl considered for a moment what the doctor had said. "Your love for the citizens flows out of you," she repeated.

WordGirl rested one of her hands gently over the cut and put the other on Tobey's swollen cheek. Then, she let her mind go, wandering back over memories of Tobey from seven years ago to just last week. Everything she had thought before in her space ship and at her home ran back through her mind. In that moment, her hands on his wounds, WordGirl was certain of only one thing: She could not let Tobey McCallister die.

Tobey's face grew paler, and for a moment WordGirl thought that she was causing more harm. But then, a tinge of color appeared again. WordGirl held her breath and smiled through her tears as the cut on Tobey's forehead faded. His swollen cheek slowly shrank while the purple bruise on the left side of his face disappeared. When he stirred gently, WordGirl pulled herself up and flew back outside. She couldn't bear to face him like that. Not now. She floated back to where the doctor was standing.

"It worked," she said woodenly.

"That's wonderful! Oh, and your sidekick is here," Doctor Grant informed her. He moved to reveal Huggy waiting on a chair behind him. WordGirl absentmindedly picked him up, but made no move to go.

"The reporters have been waiting," Doctor Grant prompted her.

A sudden fatigue consumed WordGirl. She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to regain her composure. "Could you talk to them?" she asked. "I don't feel like facing everyone…" Her voice trailed off into the thick hospital air.

A smile traced its way across the doctor's face. "Oh, of course. You go and get some rest," he said. "I'll be able to pick things up from here now that you've given your help."

"Thank you," WordGirl said. She walked quietly to the doors amid the stares of the few doctors and nurses in the hall, but as soon as she reached the outside parking lot, she flew off, avoiding the knot of reporters that still stood waiting for news.

WordGirl landed on her street ten seconds later, touched her star, and transformed into a very tired Becky Botsford. She hurried by her father, who was trimming the grass at the front of the house, and headed past the kitchen to her room. Bob scuttled for the pantry. Becky pulled him back. "Not now," she said. "Mom said no more sweets for you." Bob flashed her his annoyed look and changed direction to the television.

Becky sped up the stairs, pushed her door open at super speed, and crashed onto her bed. A reddish-yellow energy trail lingered on the steps as the door banging against the wall made a hollow sound. Becky was asleep.

At Fair City Hospital, Doctor Grant stood by Tobey's bed. "Amazing," he remarked. "You've recovered enough to go to jail."

"Listen, Doctor, that wasn't my robot," Tobey protested sitting up. "I want to talk to the police. I want to talk to WordGirl!"

"Yes, yes, when have you _not _wanted to talk to WordGirl? Your greatest invention failed, but I'm sure a squad car will be here for you soon anyway," Doctor Grant replied, pushing Tobey back down. He locked Tobey in and went outside to meet the reporters.

"So, Tobey has recovered? Did he say anything at all about the robot?" Loretta Sanchez-Johnson fired questions at the doctor. "What exactly happened?"

"What usually happens with Tobey McCallister?" Doctor Grant replied, glancing at his watch. "As far as I could gather, Tobey tried to bluff WordGirl with his promises of turning to a better life, but when she didn't believe him, he second-guessed himself and tried to unleash the robot too soon. It turned on him. But then, I'm no investigator. That's just what I concluded from examining the patient."

"Terrible," Loretta lamented, shaking her head. "Just terrible."

"Yes, it is. No more questions, please," Doctor Grant cut her off. He pushed through the microphones and made his way back inside the hospital. Stopping beside the vacant front desk, he glanced around and pulled out a cell phone. He dialed a number and waited a minute. Then, a voice answered.

"Todd Ming?" Doctor Grant said quietly. "I have some information for you if you have the money you promised." The voice on the other end of the phone grew interested. "No, this is not about her identity," Doctor Grant huffed impatiently. "Don't hang up! I think this will help you." The voice quieted.

"Her powers," the doctor explained. "We just discovered that she is able to help people recover by willingly giving a little of them away. I believe that if she keeps to small amounts at a time, they recharge, but I if she uses enough of them at once, she will become quite ordinary. How would I know if she'd die? That's your problem. Thank you, Mr. Ming. I'm sure you will." The doctor's voice faded into the hallway as he walked away with his phone.

Has Doctor Grant doomed WordGirl's secret-and her existence?

What will Scoops do with this information?

_Did Tobey really mean this robotic disaster to happen?_

_WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT?_

To answer a few of these puzzlers, wait for

The WordGirl Serial Part Three: Arrived with the Wind

_**A/N**____**And, there it is! Thank you to all those who reviewed and offered suggestions!**_


	3. Arrived With the Wind

This Devoted Life: The WordGirl Serial

Part Three: Arrived With the Wind

Becky awoke the next morning and didn't really know what to do with herself. It was the summer break just before senior year, and she still had two hours before her job at _Pretty Princess _productions started. She lay in bed for a while, thinking about Tobey and wondering if he had been released from the hospital by now. For a moment, she allowed her mind to wander toward him, waiting for his mother to pick him up. He was getting into Mrs. McCallister's car waiting to hear her lecture. And then, WordGirl was sitting beside him. Tobey smiled at her. His mother was still talking, but Becky couldn't hear her anymore. Neither could Tobey, then, a mortal with no super hearing. He reached across the seat and took her hand. WordGirl pulled back and frowned at him.

Tobey's smile disappeared. A shadow obscured his face. Becky-suddenly, she was Becky-screamed and tried to point to what was behind him, but she could not seem to move. She was glued to her seat. Tobey was shaking her, trying to unfreeze her. A huge robot loomed over him. It was going to hit him, and if it did, it would tear the car apart. Becky struggled with all her strength, which caused her chair to break from the floor of the car. She tumbled face down on the carpet. The seat weighed her down terribly, but she managed to look up. The robot was raising its arm. She screamed, and this time Tobey heard her. He turned toward her, and as he did, the robot arm came down. Segmented silver shone before Becky's eyes.

She woke up gasping and twisted in the covers. 80's music and thumping sounds drifted into her room from downstairs. Her father was obviously practicing early morning dance.

Well, that's what I get for being lazy," Becky murmured, sitting up and untangling the covers none too gently. "Nightmares." She shivered and hopped quickly out of bed. After dressing hurriedly, she wandered downstairs.

"Good morning, sleepyhead! Your mother's gone to work already," Mr. Botsford called in between leaps.

"Oh. Where's T.J.?" Becky asked.

"Where he always is in the summer nowadays," her dad answered. "Outside with a bat and a ball. Bob went with him."

Becky sat down on the couch and absentmindedly watched her father. The music faded in and out of her consciousness as she became lost in thought and Mr. Botsford became lost in his boogieing.

Suddenly, the music switched off and was replaced by a newscaster's voice heralding, "We interrupt this program to bring you this important bulletin."

"Sweet baby pickles," Mr. Botsford grumbled, reaching to turn it off.

"Tobey McCallister-" the voice began. Mr. Botsford's hand reached the dial.

"Wait a minute," Becky said, sitting upright. Mr. Botsford stopped.

"-recovered completely, it seems, with help from WordGirl," the announcer went on. "But now, the young genius is facing other hard questions about the truth of his alleged change. At this very moment, reporters outside Fair City Hospital are interviewing him as he leaves the establishment-"

"Interpreting his story the way they want, you mean," Becky interrupted the radio. She switched it off. "He could be sent to jail based on what they say, and he didn't even hurt anyone but himself this time!"

"I thought you hated that kid," Mr. Botsford observed.

"I never hated Tobey!" Becky cried, more loudly than she'd meant to. Mr. Botsford raised his eyebrows. "I mean, I dislike him, but…" Becky trailed off.

"Alright," was all Mr. Botsford said. Becky stood up.

"I need to take a walk," she said.

"Remember, you have work today," Mr. Botsford called.

Becky stopped in the yard just long enough to call Bob and then led him behind the house. Bob squeaked at her questioningly.

"We're going to see Tobey," Becky explained. "Hurry and change."

Bob started to squeak again, but apparently thought better of it and pulled on his helmet. Becky slapped her chest, said her catchphrase, and ascended into the sky as WordGirl.

WordGirl didn't think about why she was flying so quickly toward Tobey. She didn't want to. What she did think about was what the skeleton of that super robot had looked like when she came in. It had been silver colored, but there were spots showing under it that hadn't looked right. Were they rust? Surely not; it had been a new robot. What had Tobey been up to? Or, the thought crossed her mind once again, had the robot actually been Tobey's?

WordGirl saw the hospital before she had time to think anymore. She flew closer quietly. At first, all she could see was a pressing mass of press around a small lone speck. WordGirl went on, watching the speck materialize into Tobey as she came closer. A paler, thinner Tobey, with a hint of the bruise that had overpowered his cheek, was standing on the steps, but it was Tobey still. He was arguing with a brown haired reporter in a red jacket.

"I'm telling you everything I know," Tobey pleaded. "You've got to believe me."

"But you must admit, you're the only one in this city who knows enough about robotics to build such a thing," the reporter returned.

"I don't know how that thing got into my house," Tobey insisted. "I don't even know where it is now."

"It self-destructed," the reporter replied significantly. Tobey flinched. "Only a few bits of it are left, and no crime team in the city can analyze them," the reporter continued after a pause. "Handy, isn't it? The robot turned on you, so you managed to terminate it."

"It's not true!" Tobey cried. His head shot up with the force of the denial, which made his eyes catch WordGirl's as she hovered above him. WordGirl started on seeing Tobey's face. There was something desperate in his eyes. Without waiting another moment, she flew straight for Tobey. The reporters and Tobey both quieted as WordGirl lowered herself slowly down onto the platform with Huggy on her shoulder. She stood beside Tobey and faced the mob.

"I believe Tobey," she said slowly." "You're all letting your imaginations take over, but until there is evidence to the contrary, I'm-" Her voice failed. She weighed what people would think of her against Tobey's face in her mind for a moment, and then straightened up again. "I'm with him."

"WordGirl, you don't have to do this," Tobey began.

"Yes, I do," WordGirl replied. She stood rigid and stared the reporters down for a moment. The reporter who had been talking fidgeted.

"I guess you're right, WordGirl," he admitted.

"All I'm saying is that you need to give Tobey a fair chance," WordGirl insisted. "For one thing, he saw what happened. You didn't."

"All right," the reporter agreed. "Until we know for sure, we'll give the public both opinions."

"Thank you," WordGirl said. She took a last look at Tobey and prepared to leave.

"Wait!" Tobey called after her. WordGirl stopped. "Can I talk to you for a moment?" he asked. "Alone?"

"Oh…sure," WordGirl said uneasily. Tobey directed WordGirl and Huggy back to the front steps of Fair City Hospital as the reporters dispersed.

"I want to thank you," Tobey said as soon as all was quiet. "I know I don't deserve your confidence-"

"Tobey-"

"Please," Tobey said. WordGirl quieted. She had never heard Tobey sound so serious, so even-toned, or so regretful. "It wasn't my robot," Tobey went on, "but that's not what I want to apologize for. What I want to say is that I was wrong. I was trying to go straight before the attack for all the wrong reasons. I wanted to impress you, show you I'd changed, and make you love me. And I was so caught up in that that I didn't realize I hardly know anything about you at all. Seven years of ignoring you were saying to me, and all I really know for sure now is that you don't love me, and I've wasted those years on a childhood crush."

He sighed. "I feel like I've grown up now and everything is gone. But that's all right, because now, I want to stop this foolishness for the right reason. I don't want to disappoint my mother anymore, or harm the city, or anyone else. I want to see how it feels to be an average citizen. Then, I want to be more than that, to succeed in the real world. I think I wanted that as well as you before the robot, but my mind was still divided. Now I understand."

WordGirl stared at him, uncomprehending, shaking her head slowly. She tried to think of something to say, but for once, the words in her mind would not come to her lips. "Tobey," she attempted, her voice shaking for some reason. She couldn't finish the sentence. "Does this mean," she managed, "that I won't see you again?" She immediately mentally slapped herself. _Now, why did I ask that? I don't _want_ to see him again!_

"Never," Tobey assured her, misunderstanding her tone. "That's another reason I wanted to talk to you. I wanted to say goodbye. I won't see you again, at least not as a villain." He smiled ironically. "Which seems the only way." WordGirl started to say something, but Tobey held up his hand. "I know that's the way you wanted it," he said quietly. "Please don't say anything. I already feel stupid enough…" He looked down momentarily.

"It won't feel _normal_," WordGirl whispered.

"No, but I think I can live with it," Tobey replied. A car honked from the bottom of the steps. Tobey's mother was there to pick him up. Tobey gave WordGirl a little half-smile and turned toward the sound.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye," he said. "No one's come to take me to jail yet, so I guess I'm leaving." He smiled shyly. "I have a new job that someone talked to me about before the robot attack, if they'll still have me." He turned away, and then stopped and looked back. "The doctors tell me you saved me," he added. "Thank you." WordGirl stood statue-like, watching Tobey leave, until Huggy squeaked.

"Oh. I almost forgot about work," WordGirl said. "I'd better hurry, then. I still have to drop you off at home." Huggy squeaked again.

"I don't know what I think," WordGirl replied. "Well, I do, but maybe I shouldn't think so." She shook her head. "I think he's telling the truth."

WordGirl flew home quickly, dropped Bob off, and changed into Becky. She had hoped to take the car to work, but she found a note on the table from her father. He'd taken T.J. to baseball practice. Becky grimaced. She knew the agreement: If she was ever late coming back home, the car went to whoever needed it. Forgetting, for once, about WordGirl, she headed out the door. Now, she'd have to walk.

Becky set off, walking briskly toward downtown to reach her job in time. On the way, she tried not to think about never tangling with Tobey again, never answering his smart remarks, never watching his blue eyes smile at her. Thinking about Tobey made Becky remember that she could fly. But the streets were crowed, and she couldn't find a good place to change. Besides, she would have to become Becky again inside her workplace if she used WordGirl. So, thirty minutes later, Becky arrived at her destination, a skyscraper. She hurried inside, sighing. For once, she actually wasn't on time.

"Running late, Botsford?" the receptionist dressed entirely in black at the front desk jabbed as Becky hurried past. She wore cat ears on top of her head that slipped down as she tossed her black hair at Becky.

"One time, Emmy," Becky returned. Emmy adjusted her cat ears and smirked. Becky headed for the elevator. The directory that she passed read, "Pretty Princess Productions-floor seven."

Any other day, Becky would have been smiling from ear to ear as she entered the elevator. Working at _Pretty Princess Productions_ had been a dream come true for her, and even though she was only an intern, Mr. Gilman, the producer and head writer of the series, had been very pleased with her stories and had already used a few of her ideas in the show. And then last week, when Mr. Gilman had asked her if she would like to become one of the main writers, Becky had been ecstatic. Today, though, Pretty Princess herself couldn't have made Becky smile if she had appeared atop Penelope pony out of the walls of the studio. Becky pushed the seventh floor button, and the doors started to close.

"Hold it!" Becky heard someone call. She caught the elevator doors, thinking that the voice sounded strangely familiar. A rather out of breath figure appeared and darted onto the elevator.

"Thank you," the figure puffed. Becky stared. It was Tobey. She wanted to cry, laugh, and ask him what he was doing there, but she could only keep looking at him. Apparently, Tobey felt it, because he glanced up and recognized her. "Becky," he greeted. "I heard you were working here. Congratulations on the big ideas for _Pretty Princess._" Becky, still stunned to see him, only nodded in reply. Tobey cast a puzzled glance at her. "Are you all right?" he asked as the elevator moved up.

"What? Oh, yes, I'm fine," Becky finally answered, giving her head a puzzled shake. "Tobey, what are you doing here?" she burst out.

"I'm-" Tobey began, but the elevator stopped on the seventh floor just then. "I'll tell you later," he said and got off. Becky followed him, staying behind and marking his steps as he turned toward the Pretty Princess studio. She hurried to catch up with him as he walked in the door. Debbie Karter, the pretty secretary, smiled at them.

"Go right in, Mr. McCallister," she said. "Oh, and Becky, Mr. Gilman wants to see you, too."

Becky shot Tobey a questioning glance, but he only smiled back at her and knocked on Mr. Gilman's office door. "Come in," Mr. Gilman called. Tobey stood back and held the door for Becky. For some ridiculous reason, she felt herself redden as she walked by him and murmured a thank you.

Mr. Gilman motioned Becky and Tobey to his desk. "You're late, Miss Botsford," he intoned disapprovingly. The next moment, his frown dissolved into a good-natured chuckle. "I've wanted to say that since you started," he said.

"I'm sorry," Becky sheepishly apologized. "I lost track of time. It was my fault."

"That's what I like about you," Mr. Gilman answered. "You bear your own blame. If young McCallister here can do so as well, you two will make quite a team."

"We two?" Becky echoed.

"Her?" Tobey blurted at the same time. Mr. Gilman raised his thick gray eyebrows.

"Yes, if that's all right with you," he replied.

"I just didn't think her line of work had anything to do with building clay models of the characters in preparation for animation," Tobey explained.

"And I don't see what he has to do with writing_ Pretty Princess_," Becky added, her sudden discomfort sharpening her voice more than she had intended.

"The truth is that both of you have incredible talent," Mr. Gilman replied. "And two minds working together on _Pretty Princess_ will join the writing and animation of the show together more effectively."

"You mean, if Tobey and I work together, he'll be able to construct the models the way I write them and I'll see characters as he forms them?" Becky asked.

"Something like that," Mr. Gilman nodded. "The ideas will be exchanged more evenly." He looked up, and his eyes twinkled. "Besides, I've heard you were class rivals and have argued in school," he stated. "I'm just making sure you two youngsters can get along."

"Oh," Tobey said absently, glancing at Becky. She remained poker faced until they left the office.

"We haven't really argued since last month," Tobey remarked as they walked down the hall."

"Oh, well. I guess we're stuck with each other," Becky replied.

"You don't sound that upset about it," Tobey said casually.

"Neither do you!" Becky returned with a raised voice. Tobey did a perfect imitation of Mr. Gilman's eyebrow raise.

"Come along, Miss Botsford," he instructed before Becky could say anything else. Tobey fell in step with Becky as she struggled to collect her thoughts. Not an hour after WordGirl had learned she would not see Tobey again, he had waltzed into Becky's life, arriving with the wind and seemingly there to stay. As Becky led Tobey to the cubicle beside her own, she thought she saw Emmy walking quickly toward the elevators. But then, Tobey smiled at her, and Becky found herself relaxing. That was impossible; Emmy belonged on the first floor of the building. And as she started a conversation with Tobey, Becky hated to admit it, but she felt glad that he was there.

Are Becky and Tobey REALLY out of danger?

Is Tobey really sincere about going straight?

_What does Emmy have to do with this? _

_WHO WILL PROVE FALSE NEXT?_

_To answer a few of these questions (maybe) , read_

This Devoted Life Part Four: Meeting of the Acronym

_**A/N: Thanks again to everyone reading, and for all the excited reviews!**_


	4. Meeting of the Acronym

This Devoted Life: The WordGirl Serial

Part Four: Meeting of the Acronym

Emmy Woods hurried out of a downtown office building clutching a briefcase. Her workday was far from over, but Emmy didn't care. She'd only been working there to get what she needed anyway. They could fire her if they wanted. Besides, she had to be on time to this meeting of the DWGI. They were meeting in her basement today.

Emmy fished her keys up from the depths of her briefcase and headed for her car. She reached it, opened the door and got in, plopping her briefcase on the passenger seat. She heard her cell phone ring then and paused with the keys halfway to the engine. Emmy pulled her phone out of the outside pocket of her briefcase and checked the number. She put the phone down on the dashboard when she saw who the caller was. She didn't want another check on where she was from her cousin. Why did Emily think it was any of her business, anyway?

Emmy sped all the way to her home, turning the ten-minute drive to about seven and a half and arrived to see the basement door open. She groaned. They were probably inside. Emmy wondered what her mom was thinking. She didn't know if it was a good idea for the DWGI to trust each other with their house keys, but Scoops had insisted. "If we're going to succeed in this endeavor, it is imperative that we depend on each other and become a team," he'd said. Emmy grunted softly as she opened the front door. The other members had let Scoops' enthusiasm and big words take over too quickly. "He'd better have some action towards nailing Word Brat, or I'll be talking to the others," she muttered as she walked in.

"Emmy!" Emmy groaned. Her mother's voice didn't sound happy. Emmy slunk toward the kitchen, her mother's favorite haunt during the day.

"What!" Emmy snapped, slouching in the kitchen doorway. Her mother sighed.

"Who are those people that walked in? I must have left the door unlocked, and they just tramped down to the basement like they owned the place. Well? More of your friends, young lady?" Emmy's mother demanded. She leaned on the dishcloth she had been wiping the counter with and glared at Emmy, but her posture and the way she looked at her daughter indicated concern as well as annoyance.

"Yeah, Mom, they're my friends. I was expecting them," Emmy returned.

"What did I say about acquaintances over here?" Emmy's mother reminded her.

"That was for evenings," Emmy retorted as she stalked through the kitchen. She headed for the basement without another backward glance. Emmy's mother shook her head. Emmy had become insolent again lately. Emmy's mother didn't know what it was about, and she had hoped Emmy had put that stage behind her with the good influence from her longtime boyfriend Eugene Hyson. Emmy's mother sighed and turned back to the countertop. She had been ill lately, and she didn't feel strong enough to deal with Emmy's behavior right now.

At least the kids had been polite on the way to the basement, and they all looked clean-cut and respectable. Emmy's mother thought she recognized the first boy as Todd Ming, the ambitious head reporter for the _City Scoop_, Fair City High School's newspaper. Surely the group was harmless enough. Emmy's mother pressed her hand to her head and started to clean again.

Emmy hurried down the basement stairs and impatiently wrenched the door open. The faces of the DWGI turned to look at her as she entered the basement and sat down on an old yellow beanbag. Emmy glanced at each of the group members there. Scoops-Todd-he wanted everyone in the DWGI to call him Todd-was sitting opposite her on a couch, casting a smirk at the beanbag. Emmy squirmed uneasily and promptly decided to do a little redecorating later. What was she, ten years old still? All beanbags would have to go.

Emmy moved on to the next face, or rather, two faces: Victoria Best, sitting on the arm of the couch, and her boyfriend, Hunter Throbheart. As a teen, Victoria had easily managed to snag the "class crush," as Hunter was aptly nicknamed. He was currently posing against a pillar behind the couch, looking bored. Emmy knew that Victoria had a strong dislike for WordGirl and had joined the DWGI because she would do anything to hurt the superhero. Victoria was a force to be reckoned with, even more so now that she'd grown up. She was after bigger trophies now, Emmy was sure. Like WordGirl's identity and the opportunity for Victoria to make her enemy beg. Hunter, however, was just there because Victoria was. He was too shallow to be deeply involved in the organization, and yet too willing to go along with Victoria to turn on it no matter how nasty circumstances became.

Emmy mentally dismissed the couple and turned to the next boy, Dick Prescott. He was sprawled all over a chair in his usual way, his too-big square glasses slipping off his face. Those glasses and his curly reddish hair and mismatched clothes had earned him the "nerd" label all through grade school, but that quiet kid had displayed a dangerous and often malevolent genius in science as soon as he got to ninth grade, so much so that the other students and even the teachers had become afraid to cross him for fear he would blow something up.

"Sorry I'm late," Emmy stated to the four others in the room, "but I got what Todd was looking for. Tobey McCallister is definitely okay after WordGirl visited him in the hospital. He's taken a job at _Pretty Princess Productions_."

"I knew it!" Scoops exulted. "That's exactly what I was waiting for."

"So what?" a naturally condescending, irritated sounding voice scoffed. "What does that have to do with bringing WordGirl down? I don't see what good anything we've piled on Tobey has done." Scoops turned toward the challenger, Victoria.

"You don't know?" he asked slowly, his voice rising. He locked eyes with each person in the room, emphasizing the importance of what he was about to say. The DWGI leaned forward, drawn by Scoops' intense stare; even Hunter came up off his pillar. "I'll tell you," Scoops continued after the moment had hit home. He leaned forward on the couch and clasped his hands in his lap.

"Remember a few weeks ago when WordGirl confiscated Doctor Two-brains' stolen cheese collection?" Scoops asked. "WordGirl let him keep stealing it and then went in when she had enough evidence. It was a huge win for her, huge story for me." The group nodded and shuffled, trying to see the point. Scoops smiled. He loved making people understand, raising questions in their minds and then besieging them with his answers.

"I melted into the background and hid in Two-brains' old warehouse until everyone had gone," Scoops remembered. "The other reporters followed Two-brains off to jail, but I was after other things. When I was sure I was alone, I crawled out of hiding. I wanted to access Doctor Two-brains' cheese vault and wasn't sure how I would be able to do that, but I found that I needn't have worried. Its coded door remained wide open, ransacked by WordGirl and photographed by swarms of reporters. I walked in and found what people had only heard rumors about WordGirl seeing with her super vision: A hidden opening to a secret room. I suppose WordGirl had seen what was inside and protected the doctor's privacy by dismissing the rumors about it, but it was all wide open to my eyes now." Scoops paused, glancing around at the interested faces with great satisfaction.

"So?" Emmy was forced to ask. "What was inside?" She sighed inwardly at herself for questioning Todd; it was an admission that she was interested in his longwinded account. However, she had to admit that he was a good storyteller. Whether any of this mattered to the DWGI's goal was another question.

"Everything you can imagine that had to do with Steven Boxleitner," Scoops replied. "Photos, old models of microscopes, dusty test tubes, high school yearbooks; his entire old life was in that room. And in the center of that tiny chamber was a file cabinet with a copy of his book, _Superheroes and You_, and a college diploma on top of it. In the file cabinet-"

"Uh, hello? I'm still not seeing what this has to do with WordGirl's identity," Victoria interrupted. "And I should know; I'm the _best_ at interpreting stories." She glared at Hunter, demanding support with her quickly reddening eyes. Hunter nodded vigorously at Scoops.

"She's got a point, you know," he said. "Hey, why don't we just blackmail Two-brains by saying we'll tell everyone about his precious secret room and embarrass him if he doesn't pay us? This doesn't seem too important." Victoria nodded. Dick sent everyone concerned a scowl. He was too unstable to sit still for many more mere words. Emmy remained quiet and waited.

"No!" Scoops cried. "Don't you understand?" Victoria jumped. Emmy smiled to herself. "You didn't let me finish," Scoops continued, toning his voice down. "I was about to say that I found an old file on WordGirl in that cabinet. It showed how her powers looked inside her immune system and how they functioned to keep her well. Coupled with what a doctor at the hospital where WordGirl healed Tobey told me, it appears-" Scoops broke off for a moment. By now, he was almost choking on his own enthusiasm.

"It appears that if we can hurt enough people, WordGirl will heal them, and so lose all or most of her powers for the good of the citizens," he resumed. Then, we'll be the only people who know about the plot, and we'll be there to pull off her helmet." The group stilled. Even Dick's eyes widened.

"So, what about the doc?" Hunter asked again. Scoops closed his eyes in obvious frustration. The rest of the group exchanged glances.

"So, obviously, if we blackmail Two-brains now, he'll be able to tell the police later that we knew about the room, and probably his old files on WordGirl. We can't risk a small job like that with WordGirl's identity almost in our hands," Emmy spoke up. She surprised herself-and the rest of the group-with her boldness. Scoops gave Emmy a long but commending sideways glance.

"Exactly. We can't afford to slip up now," Scoops affirmed. "This is what we've worked for. We chose Tobey to injure because with the tension between him and WordGirl lately, WordGirl and her little heart of gold would probably tend to him herself. But afterwards it would easily look like he made the robot Dick so cleverly designed, and it malfunctioned. He was the perfect one to use, but now, we need to go after the real thing. Dick, make me a bomb." Dick's eyes widened with delight. He rose halfway out of the seat, gripping its arms tightly. "Not too powerful!" Scoops stopped him. "We only want to wound a lot of people, not get anyone killed. I don't know about you, but I don't want to go to jail for murder, and they'll investigate it much more thoroughly if anyone dies." Dick sat down again. "Something that spreads its force mainly over one floor of a skyscraper and knocks out most of the exits, but is not too serious. Can you do it?" Scoops asked.

"Sure I can, if you tell me the building you want to target," Dick replied roughly. Scoops leaned back in his seat, his eyes narrowing as he narrowed choices down in his mind.

"Let's see; something high-rise, public, and inhabited," he listed. "And, let's make it something that WordGirl loves, shall we?" He sat up straight and sneered suddenly. "Plant the bomb on the seventh floor of the Schooltastic office building downtown, Dick. That's where the _Pretty Princess Productions_ studio is."

A few more details were filled in, but the meeting broke up quickly after that. After Hunter and Victoria and then Dick had gone, Scoops stayed behind, penning fragmented sentences feverishly down on a notepad and mumbling to himself. Emmy quietly sat on the opposite arm of the couch and tried to read the notes, but Scoops' handwriting proved impossible to decipher.

"You're good, you know." Emmy jumped. She thought Todd had been too engaged in his work to realize she was there.

"Thanks," Emmy returned. "So are you." She shifted a little. "Do you really think we'll get WordGirl this way?" Emmy's voice didn't exactly hold doubt as much as worry, as if she thought that maybe the DWGI wouldn't be worth the pain.

"I don't see why not," Scoops answered without looking up from his paper. "Why? Are you having second thoughts?"

"No," Emmy hastened to deny. Todd looked up and raised his eyebrows at her, his face encouraging more of an explanation. Emmy sighed. "It's just that I've had so many people ragging on me lately. My mom, my cousin, my boyfriend-oh, sorry, ex-boyfriend…It's been a living nightmare."

"I know the feeling," Todd acknowledged. "My mom's bad about that too. And my girlfriend knows about me joining this; found out early on and hasn't quit complaining since. She can be such a drama queen sometimes. Sounds like your whole family's banded together, though."

"It feels like it," Emmy agreed. "Moms are moms, but I can't stand the others. I broke up with my boyfriend, Eugene, because he just didn't understand me anymore. He didn't find out about the organization, but I couldn't stand his softness. He wouldn't get mad at me because I wasn't there, you know? But that hasn't been a problem with Emily. She can't stop calling me."

"Emily?" Scoops asked. "Isn't she the girl you used to parade around with dressed the same way?"

"That's the one," Emmy replied. "Emily's my cousin, but she's also been my best friend for years. I guess we were meant to be; our fathers are twins so we look enough alike to be taken for twins even though I'm really a year older, we have practically the same first name and the same last name; it's crazy, really. We had everything in common except for one thing: our views on WordGirl."

"Really?" Scoops asked interestedly.

"Yeah. Emily started loving WordGirl when she was eight. It kept on for a couple of years and I got aggravated. Sure, WordGirl was great and everything, but Emily just wouldn't talk about anything else. Then, when she was ten, she won a contest and became a permanent contestant for a game show WordGirl thought up for press. That took her away even more, and I just started hating WordGirl. She had all the attention of the public, so why'd she have to have Emily, too? It didn't seem fair."

"So, that's why you joined this organization?" Scoops questioned.

"No. If that was all, it wouldn't be worth my childhood grudge." Emmy laughed mirthlessly. "I'm in it mostly for my share of the money your exposé on WordGirl will make. It'll be worth millions."

"I see," Scoops replied. "Does Emily know about you being in the DWGI?"

"Oh, no," Emmy answered. "If she knew I was doing something like this, it would break her heart. That's why she keeps calling me; she's trying to find out where I am all the time. I don't know why she bothers; she knows I'm not going to tell her."

"Sounds like we're both going through the same thing," Scoops said.

"Sounds like it," Emmy agreed. Scoops stood and stretched.

"Well, I'd better go," he declared. "I have to drop my notes off at home and-" he looked at his watch and slapped his knee- "I'm already late to meet Violet."

"Okay," Emmy said. "See ya, Todd." Scoops waved and turned for the stairs.

Upon leaving Emmy's house, Scoops headed for his parents' car, which he had obtained permission to drive. He had told his father he was taking Violet on a date. It hadn't been a lie; he was due to meet his girlfriend, just not in the morning. His parents were attending some conference that day anyway. They would never know the difference.

Scoops got into the car and headed for the restaurant he and Violet had agreed to meet at, wondering if Violet would still be there. He was half an hour late already. But then, Violet Heaslip was a very patient person.

Scoops pulled into the parking lot, hurriedly parked the car, and raced into the restaurant. He searched the room. Nothing. The booth where he and Violet usually sat was empty. A noise at the back door caught Scoops' attention. He looked up just in time to catch a glimpse of someone in a bluish skirt and a purple skirt retreating out the door. Scoops growled in aggravation. Violet must have seen him come in, so why couldn't she have waited? He didn't have time to chase her around all day.

Scoops walked through the back door and rounded the corner. The route took him to the back wall of the restaurant. Violet was walking briskly away. Shaking his head, Scoops ran after her. Before Violet could turn the next corner, Scoops caught up with her and grabbed her arm.

"Violet, what are you doing?" he demanded. "Didn't you see me come in?"

"I saw," Violet replied softly. She had obviously been crying. Scoops let go of her arm and spread his hands in a miffed way. "I thought you might have something better to do than spend time with me," Violet said.

"Now, what's that supposed to mean?" Scoops asked, instantly defensive. "I was there, Violet! You walked out."

"You were there, but you were forty-five minutes late, and that's the fourth time since you've joined that organization that this has happened," Violet reminded him. "Once, you were two hours late, once you called to cancel, and one time you just didn't show up." She blinked back tears. "And it isn't just that. Scoops, you haven't acted like yourself ever since you found out about the DWGI."

"It isn't that!" Scoops raised his voice a little. Violet shook her head.

"Yes, it is," she said. Scoops started to speak, but Violet hastily began again. "Scoops, I know how much you've dreamed of getting WordGirl's identity, but you must do it honestly, or you'll be committing a crime," she pleaded earnestly. "I know that using dishonest methods is not like you. I know you wouldn't do that-"

"_How_ do you know?" Scoops interrupted. Violet whirled around, her dark blue eyes entreatingly searching his. "Listen to me," Scoops continued in a low, menacing tone. "I have waited all my life for this, and I will do anything to get this story. Why shouldn't I have it? I'm a better reporter than anyone my age in this city, and I've been dreaming about WordGirl's identity for years. And if I've made friends with people who can help me get it, you should be happy!" Scoops was shouting by now, glaring angrily at Violet. She shrank back toward the wall for a moment. Violet had never seen Scoops act like this.

"All right, Scoops," Violet said after a silence. She stood up and took a few steps backward. "If that's the way you have to go, I can't stop you." She looked back over her shoulder at Scoops' still angry face. "But this is goodbye, at least for now. If you ever need help, change your mind, or want to think things through, call me. I'm leaving." She walked away.

"I didn't make you leave!" Scoops hurled the words after her. "It was your choice, Violet. Remember that!" Violet faded into the distance. Scoops angrily kicked at the wall and stood still for a few seconds. Then, he pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

"Emmy?" he said. "Hi. Yeah, this is Todd. Listen, I know I was just there, but-do you want to go out somewhere? I'm sure I can find some place. Yeah, things did not go well. You do? Okay. I'll be there as soon as I can." A little later, Scoops drove out of the parking lot, headed for Emmy's house.

Violet sat cross-legged on her bed, staring out the window next to it. Her CD player was on in the background, playing a song called _Come in With the Rain_ by Taylor Swift. Clouds were starting to gather on the horizon while cloudbursts signaled a sudden summer storm. As Violet watched the weather change, she whispered the lines from the song as they played.

"_Talk to yourself, talk to the tears, talk to the Man who put you here…_

"_And don't wait for the sky to clear._" A sob tore itself loose despite Violet's efforts to stop it, and she started to sing the chorus along with the CD player, crying all the while.

"_I leave my window open, 'cause I'm too tired at night to call your name/Just know I'm right here hoping_ _that you'll come in with the rain._" Violet leaned her burning forehead on the cool windowpane and wept softly until the last notes of the song played soft and clear and then slowly faded.

_I could go back to every laugh-but I don't want to go there any more…_

What will happen to Scoops and Violet?

Will the DWGI succeed in their plan-without ruining their lives?

_Will WordGirl truly die saving the people of the city?_

_WHAT WILL COME APART NEXT?_

_To straighten out some of these questions, wait for_

The WordGirl Serial Part Five: Love Courageously

_**A/N: Once again, thank you to everyone who reviewed and will review! You guys really encourage me with your enthusiasm over the stories I wrote a long time ago. That's why you are-and always will be-awesome! Yeah, I couldn't resist.**_


	5. Love Courageously

This Devoted Life: The WordGirl Serial

Part Five: Love Courageously

Becky sat inside her cubicle at _Pretty Princess Productions_, slowly swiveling her chair back and forth. She reviewed the words on her computer screen with a critical frown. "The rainbows were no longer black. They shone all their colors over Unicorn Valley once again. Pretty Princess and her magic pony smiled a glittering smile. Count Cloudy had failed, so Sparkletopia was a safe and sparkly place to live once again," she read aloud softly to herself. Becky giggled, going into little girl mode. "The unicorns are safe, and so is the kingdom," she chirped, allowing her voice to rise higher as it had when she was younger. She caught her long locks and piled them on top of her head in an imitation of Pretty Princess' hairstyle. "My work here is done!"

"All you need now is your hair to turn pink," a voice teased. Becky let go of her hair and made a face at Tobey, who was peering over his cubicle.

"You got everything else right," Tobey continued.

"Ha, ha," Becky returned with a smile. "I actually wouldn't mind my hair turning Pretty Princess pink."

"It would be a pity to ruin those lovely curls," Tobey replied. "They're the envy of every girl in school, you know."

"Oh, sure," Becky answered lightly, but it wasn't her hair that turned pink as she averted her face from Tobey. "What do you think of the ending?" she inquired.

"I love it, but I'm not really the one to ask. I tried to do things that WordGirl liked for a long time, but I drew a firm line at watching _Pretty Princess_." Tobey smiled. Becky returned the smile, but grew quiet at the mention of WordGirl. Tobey seemed to discern Becky's discomfort at his mention of the superhero and disappeared. Becky sighed and turned back to her desk.

But before she could type another letter, Tobey was beside her, leaning on the left side of her desk looking into her face. His left arm rested on the desk while his right hand touched her shoulder. Becky drew a sharp breath at Tobey's unexpected closeness, blinking into his twinkling, but also suddenly very serious, blue eyes.

"I gave up WordGirl, Becky," Tobey murmured, his left hand almost touching Becky's.

"I know," Becky whispered back. Her heart started to race ahead of the rest of her, wanting to give itself to Tobey right then and there. Becky suppressed the feeling with effort and only looked back at Tobey, waiting for him to speak again.

"Just wanted to tell you that," he said, standing up straight. Becky gave him a wide smile, feeling unexpected tears stinging her eyelids. At that moment, the bell rang, signaling the end of the workday. Becky and Tobey were on summer schedule at the studio since they were out of school, which meant that they could work from seven in the morning until three in the afternoon.

Tobey moved back, giving Becky time to blink the tears away. "Come on," he cheerfully invited, walking backwards toward the door, his eyes still fixed on Becky.

"Where?" Becky laughingly asked, swiveling her chair toward him.

"With me," Tobey answered, holding out his hands in an exaggerated begging gesture. Becky inwardly reached out for Tobey, but the WordGirl part of her rose up and inhibited her. Becky groaned audibly. Ever since Tobey had started working at _Pretty Princess Productions_, he had changed toward her. His old teasing always came at her with a compliment wrapped up in it, he'd made her a little model of herself riding the magic pony with her hair blowing in the wind, and he had an uncanny way of looking into her eyes lately that countered every one of WordGirl's known mental attacks against him in seconds. However, Tobey was going slowly, touching softly and occasionally on the subject of love. Becky knew he sensed her discomfort, so was afraid to simply ask her out. She also knew that Tobey was wondering why she was so apprehensive; he had been a villain, but that fact was not enough to explain Becky's extremely reluctant and often overly cold attitude toward him.

Becky shook her head. If only Tobey knew why it was so hard for her to trust him. The plain truth was that WordGirl the superhero had only let Tobey enter her mind as a threat, never even thinking about falling for him. Becky the average girl, on the other hand, had wondered how it would be for Tobey to notice her, especially when Scoops and Violet had begun dating. Becky had thought about Tobey often, much more often than WordGirl liked.

Now, WordGirl was reminding Becky that the robot found in Tobey's room could have been his, warning her not to let Tobey deceive her, and telling her not to go. Becky hesitated a little. For a split second, the two sides of her shone out through her eyes, one begging Tobey to go ahead, and the other one glaring defensively at him, trying to keep from being betrayed. Tobey saw it, and though he did not understand why, he must have seen enough to know that Becky wanted to go despite her hesitation.

Tobey seized Becky's briefcase from beside her desk and ran off with it, brandishing it as he skipped in an overplayed way down the hall. Becky shrugged, pushed WordGirl's thoughts away, and ran after him. "Tobey McCallister, give that back!" she giggled, pursuing him as he headed for the elevators.

"Make me," Tobey challenged, running faster, both of them laughing all the while. Becky quickened her pace and cornered Tobey against the wall beside the elevator. Pressing the down button with one hand, he easily held the briefcase over Becky's head. She glared determinedly at him and jumped for it twice, hanging onto his shoulder to lift herself the second time, hardly noticing what she was doing. The elevator doors opened, and Tobey whisked the briefcase out of her reach and darted into the elevator with Becky right behind him. The scuffle ended as Becky lost her balance flinging herself into the elevator after Tobey and fell into him. She grabbed onto him in surprise, clinging to him for support. Tobey's arms lowered as she steadied herself. They locked eyes for a moment. Then, Becky snatched the briefcase.

"You-" she sputtered, shaking the briefcase triumphantly in Tobey's face.

"Me what, Becky?" he threw back. "Hmm? Me what?"

"That's terrible grammar…" was Becky's automatic response, but her words trailed off. None of WordGirl's defenses seemed to work anymore, even dwelling on the grammar instead of Tobey's comment. Maybe Tobey was lying, but why if he was, why was he racing Becky down the hall?

_To trick everyone,_ WordGirl insisted, pushing her way to the front of Becky's mind. _They-and you-will think he loves you, but really, what's more perfect than picking someone dull and normal to pay attention to so you look innocent? Trust me; I've been around and I've been around him. You'll be left crying in the dust._

"Becky?" Becky turned her attention back to Tobey. "Are you okay? Becky?"

"Oh, I-I guess I was off somewhere," Becky mumbled distractedly.

"I guess so," Tobey said. The elevator stopped on the ground floor. "So, where are you going?" Tobey asked as they got off.

"Home," Becky replied. "Where else?"

"Let's go to the park," Tobey suggested. "Rime Lake is always fun to look at in the summer."

Becky hesitated as WordGirl scolded furiously, but ended up dismissing the thoughts of her alter ego. _You can say you told me so later,_ she told WordGirl. "I guess I'll come for a minute," she replied aloud. "I can only stay for a little while, though."

"Perfect," Tobey said, his tone conveying exactly how perfect it was.

The two of them left _Pretty Princess Productions_ and walked slowly downtown toward Rime Lake. The clear, cold body of water was really more of a large pond, sitting in the middle of a cluster of downtown buildings, but every citizen of Fair City loved it. A few summers ago, the city had discovered that it didn't take much to keep Rime Lake frozen, so they'd asked the owner of the property, who happened to be the city's most villainous businessman Mr. Big, to supply the small amount of power needed. Mr. Big hadn't liked the idea until his assistant Leslie had mentioned that turning Rime Lake into a place for ice-skating would make Mr. Big Industries hundreds of dollars a year. Shortly after Leslie had made that point, the lake had become open to ice-skaters. Becky and Tobey could feel the cool air ascending from the lake into the hot summer day as they walked up to the lake's railing and watched the skaters.

"I loved this place since it opened, you know," Tobey said absently, stretching his hands toward the frosty mist floating toward the railing. "It's so refreshing in the middle of a hot day."

"I bet you couldn't skate on it, though," Becky remarked.

"Actually, I have practiced, and I've become a genius at it," Tobey replied.

"Ha!" Becky returned. "A genius? Tobey, you fell on your face during every outside activity in grade school." Tobey looked over at her.

"I can skate," he insisted. Becky snorted, continuing the tiff just for the sake of quarreling with Tobey again. Their familiar way of disagreeing felt more comfortable to her than his new earnest friendliness.

"Can not."

"Can too."

"Can not!"

"Can too."

"Can _not,_" Becky argued, raising her falsely indignant brown eyes to Tobey's face. Almost instantly, she recognized that that move had been a terrible mistake. Her eyes locked onto his and wouldn't let go, no matter how much she tried to move them. The next moment, though, Becky realized that Tobey was as deeply fascinated by her as she was by him. Neither of them moved for a moment. Becky sighed, wondering what on planet Earth they were disputing about.

Then, Tobey took one step forward, planted his hands on Becky's waist, and kissed her sweetly on the mouth.

The first fleeting impulse, the WordGirl impulse, was to push Tobey away and scream. It passed in a hundredth of a second, and Becky stood there, keeping absolutely still except to move her hands hesitantly to Tobey's shoulders, savoring the thought that it was _her_ that Tobey was kissing, Becky Botsford, the ordinary, overlooked girl, and sending a _ha, take that_ to her alter ego. Not that WordGirl cared a bit, anyway. For once, she was silent, lost at least for that second in Tobey's first little tender kiss.

Tobey moved back before their lips had time to do much more than meet, but he had made his point. Becky knew it; she was in love with Tobey, no matter what, and no other information about him was relevant any more. She pulled away, trembling, her manner begging Tobey to tell her he meant that kiss.

"Can too," Tobey finished matter-of-factly. "But I bet you're better."

"I don't know," Becky managed, finding her voice again. She was glad to locate it; there was something she had to ask Tobey, no matter how much she dreaded it…

"Tobey? Was that-was that your first kiss?" Becky questioned in a low, small voice.

"Yes," Tobey replied honestly.

"I guess you used to dream about kissing WordGirl your first time," Becky said.

"I guess that wasn't the way it was meant to be," Tobey answered, leaning nearer to Becky.

"Do you regret it?" Becky murmured, very close to his shoulder. Tobey pulled her in and bent his head to her ear.

"No," he whispered simply. Becky sighed, then raised her head and smiled at him. She believed Tobey, heart and soul. Tobey released her and took her hand, pulling her toward the little shed that rented out skates. "Come on," he said. "You can help me test a theory: You and I can remain uninjured on together on ice skates." Becky laughed and went willingly with him.

Becky had been on the lake before, but never like this. Everything seemed more beautiful that day, and the combination of the cold, sharp air and Tobey beside her took her breath away. Most people who went out on the lake dressed for it, but Becky, in her summer clothes, hardly noticed the cold. Sheer excitement was warming her, racing up and down her body. Tobey was indeed very good on ice skates; better than Becky. She expected that the jumps he made were keeping him warm. Becky watched, amazed at Tobey's talent until he finished with a running jump that took him from her side and came skating back.

"Tobey, you're wonderful!" Becky exclaimed. "Where did you learn all those tricks?"

"Right here," Tobey replied, taking his place beside her, a little out of breath. "I told you I'd been on the lake before."

"I guess so," Becky said.

"So, admit it," Tobey challenged, slipping an arm around Becky. "I can skate."

"Oh, fine," Becky acknowledged with pretended reluctance. "Maybe a little." They both laughed. Becky looked around the lake, hoping the moment would never end. But what her eyes caught a glimpse of made her forget herself for a moment. She thought she saw Eugene Hyson on the ice, skating with…Violet.

"Tobey," Becky said, tugging on his arm, "let's go over there. I thought I saw…" She pulled Tobey with her, skating toward Eugene. It wasn't hard to see Eugene, who had been the tallest, shyest boy in school since fourth grade. Sure enough, Becky saw Violet again as she caught up with Eugene. Violet saw Becky and Tobey, too, as they came up, and turned toward them.

"Hello, Becky." Violet waved, easily skating backwards and talking at the same time. "Tobey?" she added, sending a questioning glance toward Becky.

"Hi, Violet," Becky said. "I saw you and Eugene here and just wondered where Scoops was." Violet moved in a way that was almost a wince and glanced at Tobey. He took the hint quite graciously and skated off, engaging Eugene in conversation.

"I broke up with him," Violet declared quietly as the two boys moved away.

"What?" Becky gasped. "Why?"

"Because of that organization," Violet replied. "He didn't want to be with me anymore, Becky. He's too caught up in the idea of uncovering WordGirl's identity. He's changed so much that it's as if I don't even know him. The last time we saw each other, I told him he shouldn't want to find WordGirl's identity by committing a crime like the DWGI wants to, and he said he would do anything to get the story and that I should be happy. I couldn't live with that."

"Oh, Violet," Becky murmured. "I'm sorry. So, are you dating Eugene, now?" Violet shook her head.

"No," she answered. "It's just that Eugene's girlfriend Emmy broke up with him, and according to rumors, she's dating Scoops. I guess we both needed cheering up, so we met here and compared notes and just tried to help each other out. Eugene has hardly ever been here, so I thought I'd show him the lake." Becky nodded. It wasn't the first time Violet had made someone feel better. "Doesn't it help to skate out here and look at the sky and the ice when you're sad?" Violet asked.

"Oh, yes," Becky agreed. "Or happy." She glanced toward Tobey, who was apparently teaching Eugene to skate backwards, and shook her head.

"Are you helping him out, too?" Violet asked. Becky guiltily smiled and shook her head.

"No," she replied. "I'm on a date."

Violet and Becky skated on and talked a little longer until Becky remembered Tobey and Eugene. "I guess we'd better get back before Tobey turns Eugene into a figure skater," she reminded Violet.

"Oh, yes. I almost forgot about them," Violet said. She clasped Becky's hand. "I'm so glad I met you here, Becky," she added. "I don't know what I would have-" Suddenly, Violet stiffened, looking over Becky's shoulder. "What?" Violet whispered. Becky looked behind her, but she was too late. All she saw were two black-haired figures walking by the lake's railing, quickly fading out of sight…

And one of them was wearing cat ears. The bright yellow of the other figure's jacket burned on Becky's vision as she turned back around. "Scoops and Emmy," Violet whispered. "They looked like they were going into the _Pretty Princess_ building."

"I don't know why they would go there; the work day is over, at least for us," Becky said. "Although, I guess there are other shifts working." Violet stared after the pair, looking very much as if she wanted to go after them. Tobey must have seen the girls suddenly stop, for he skated back around to them with Eugene behind him.

"What's the matter?" he asked, looking from one face to the other.

"I thought I saw Scoops Ming and Emmy Woods," Violet explained. "They were going into the Schooltastic building where the _Pretty Princess_ studio is."

"Oh, right!" Tobey remembered instantaneously. "Becky, I just realized that with all the effort it took to get your briefcase, I forgot mine. I'd better go back and get it." He glanced at Violet and Eugene, who both looked suddenly agitated. "Would you like to walk with me? I'll give you a guided tour of the studio." Violet and Eugene both quickly accepted his offer, and after removing their skates, the four of them walked briskly toward the Schooltastic building. Violet and Eugene walked behind, talking in low tones. Becky smiled at Tobey and touched his arm.

"I guess it was lucky that you forgot your briefcase," she said. "It couldn't have waited for tomorrow, could it have, now?"

"I guess it could have," Tobey replied. "But, as long as I have a chance to see Todd Ming stood up to, it's worth it.

"I just want to see him again, that's all," Violet spoke up from behind as the group climbed the steps leading to the building. "I'm worried about him, and Eugene's worried about Emmy. That's all. I'm not even going to talk to him; in fact, I'll just wait by the door. He'll see you and Eugene, and he'll know I'm out here. I just want to know if he's all right."

"That's all I want to know about Emmy, too," Eugene said. "But I want to go in. I want to see her. She's beautiful," he added shyly. "I miss her."

"All right then," Tobey said, swinging open the office door. Violet sat down on the steps as they went in. The rest of them crowded into the elevator and rode up to the fourteenth floor after looking around the ground level and discovering no sign of Scoops or Emmy. When the elevator doors opened, Becky started to step off and was almost bowled over by a tall, redheaded boy with a bow tie carrying something under his arm.

"Oh! Dick, is that you?" Becky inquired as Tobey and Eugene stepped off the elevator after her. "I thought I recognized you from school-"

"Watch where you're going," Dick growled.

"No, that's perfectly all right," Tobey said sarcastically as Dick pushed past him into the elevator. "Becky wasn't hurt at all. And thank you so much for your genteel apology." Dick glared at him as the doors shut.

"Tobey," Becky reprimanded gently as they crossed the hall. Tobey shrugged at her and opened his office door. Eugene and Becky followed him in. Tobey flipped the light switch, but as he did, a strange ticking noise filled the air. Eugene retreated back into the hall with an uneasy look. Becky remembered that loud or strange noises had always scared him. Tobey picked up his briefcase, and as he did, his eyes were drawn to two tiny cords, one red and one silver, running the length of his cubicle and beyond his closed door to Becky's.

"Becky," he started to say something, his voice suddenly urgent, but before he could continue, the ticking sound grew louder. "Becky, it's wired," Tobey shouted. He picked Becky up and threw her into the hall. Becky reached for him, but the ticking sound accelerated and then stopped as an explosion filled the air. Becky gasped as something collapsed on top of her, weighing her down. Tobey disappeared under a volley of tile and chunks of ceiling. Becky thought she saw the door to Tobey's cubicle cave in followed by the rest of it as she went down, but everything disappeared for a moment in a sea of red and grey. Becky lay stunned. Tobey was still inside.

Are Becky's friends and the _Pretty Princess_ employees all right?

Can Becky rise up in time to find out?

_In saving Becky, has Tobey sacrificed himself?_

_WILL WORDGIRL REALLY BE UNMASKED?_

_To find the final answers, wait for_

The WordGirl Serial Part Six: Uncovered

_**A/N: All right! Almost done! And, as always, you guys who continually review me are great. And yes, you've inspired me to start writing for WG again! I may do a Miss Power-centered story. I'm still thinking about it, but I'm not leaving after this is done!**_


	6. Uncovered

This Devoted Life: The WordGirl Serial

Part Six: Uncovered

_**A/N: I'm updating this a little early because for once, I have places to be tonight, and I want to make sure you guys get this on time. And yes, this is the ending, but you better believe you have not seen the last of me! Ha, ha, ha! Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed this!**_

WordGirl's super sight cautiously searched through the chunk of rock that had pinned Becky Botsford down. Her vision assured her that there was no one in the hall except Eugene Hyson. A pillar had fallen, which explained the huge amount of damage in the hall, and had trapped Eugene against the wall. WordGirl examined him with her eyes. He was hurt and unconscious, but he was alive, and she could show herself without anyone noticing.

Becky may have been the one to go down, but WordGirl rose up, slapping her chest as she burst into the light like a moth out of a stone cocoon. She immediately went for Eugene, casting her super vision upon what had been Tobey's cubicle as she did so. Partly to her relief and partly to her dismay, her glance did not reveal a trace of Tobey. WordGirl shook her head as she reached Eugene, wondering if Tobey could possibly have made it through the back door before the explosion hit.

Part of the broken pillar had fallen dangerously near Eugene's left arm. WordGirl lifted it, tossed it away, and laid her hand on his forehead. He stirred and moaned as a tiny bit of her powers surged into him.

"It's okay," WordGirl said quickly when Eugene started to move. "You have a concussion and some bad cuts, but that's all." Eugene nodded, recognizing the superhero. "I need to fly you out now," WordGirl said. "I hate to move you, but I think my powers will stabilize you enough, and-" she looked up as a tremor shook the seventh floor- "this building could tumble at any moment."

"Okay," Eugene rasped back. WordGirl picked him up and carefully floated out a broken window and down to the ground. She looked for Violet as she landed, but her best friend was also nowhere to be seen, even with super vision.

"I'll call an ambulance," WordGirl told Eugene. "Just stay here."

"Where are you going?" he whispered as WordGirl left the ground.

"People are still trapped in there," she called and flew back toward the seventh floor.

The next thirty minutes seemed to fly by as WordGirl found people injured in the debris of several different floors and moved them outside. She made sure she healed the many citizens with broken limbs before she moved them. Her powers slipped out little by little, and the time had been racing along, but WordGirl felt as though it slowed as she healed more people. When she thought she had moved most of the ones who had suffered the greatest injuries out and had made sure that most of the building had been cleared, she slowed down and called an ambulance, wondering why one hadn't come already. Surely someone must have seen the accident by then.

"Hello?" WordGirl panted, her breath rasping into her cell phone. She felt strangely shaken, gasping for air. Saving the city didn't usually do that to her. "An ambulance needs to come downtown right away-"

"Sorry, miss, but that won't be possible," a strangely familiar male voice replied. "All ambulances in the city have shut down. There's been a sudden epidemic, and all staff are needed in the hospitals."

"What? That can't be possible!" WordGirl hotly exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, but it's true," the voice replied.

"But-" WordGirl protested.

"Sorry, ma'am." At the emergency center, Doctor Grant hung up the phone and smiled maliciously down at the unconscious operator.

WordGirl sighed in frustration and whirled around in the sky. To her surprise, the sudden movement caused her to gasp and free fall toward the ground. She stopped and lowered herself jerkily to the sidewalk. "Well, the building's empty," she said to herself, clutching her middle and trying to catch her breath, "but it could still fall." She cleared her head and made her way to different people, making sure they could walk away and healing them of their worst cuts and bruises. As she did, she vaguely sensed herself becoming weaker, but WordGirl wasn't paying attention to herself at the moment.

WordGirl looked up from a citizen and saw them disappear behind the Schooltastic building; two black-haired people. And the one in the yellow jacket was limping. WordGirl got up and followed them, hoping that Scoops wasn't hurt. She could tell that it was Scoops with her super keen eyesight. Sure enough, it looked like Emmy was with him. As WordGirl walked after the pair, she caught a glimpse of Victoria Best being loaded into a police car. WordGirl shrugged the sight off; it was common enough. Whatever Victoria had done this time, the police were handling it. WordGirl reached the alley behind the building. Scoops was there, leaning against the wall with Emmy bending over him. Scoops seemed to be having trouble standing. WordGirl flew over to help him-but as soon as she reached out to him, he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her against him as Emmy skipped lightly away from the wall.

"What are you doing?" WordGirl demanded. She struggled instinctively against Scoops' grip, but to her chagrin, she found him to be stronger.

"Too little too late, WordGirl," Scoops snarled softly. He spun her around, twisting her wrist at the same time so that she fell to her knees in front of him with her back to the wall. All WordGirl could do was stare up at him, shocked. "Oh, come on! Did you really think that I wouldn't get your identity sooner or later?" Scoops mocked her. "I knew if I hurt enough people, your own self-sacrifice would work against you."

"You did this?" WordGirl whispered.

"Todd!" Emmy hissed at the same time with an annoyed look at Scoops. WordGirl's eyes widened. It had to be true, then. The DWGI had outdone itself in the most disastrous way possible.

"Never mind about that. I'll have your identity in time for the front page of the evening paper," Scoops returned. "And if you tell anyone how I got it, I have a few ties with villains. I can threaten some and pay others, but either way, I can persuade enough of them to put your family in danger-whoever your family happens to be."

WordGirl caught her breath at Scoops' threat, wondering if what he said was true, but didn't have long to guess. Her thoughts were arrested by Scoops' hands pulling at her helmet. WordGirl cried out and pulled down, using all her energy to keep her helmet on. For a moment, it worked. Then, she heard Scoops yell, "A little help here, Emmy?" WordGirl despaired as she felt a second pair of hands latch onto the helmet. Everything was fading before her eyes. The alley was starting to swirl into a stone-colored, faded piece of confusion.

A call from another direction stopped them all.

"WordGirl!" WordGirl managed to turn her head the sound of that cry. Scoops' and Emmy's grip loosened. It was Tobey running toward WordGirl, stumbling over with a pained look covering his face, but all right. A deep red, bleeding cut ran up his right arm to the shoulder, but he was alive. WordGirl tried to rise, but Scoops forced her back down. The look on WordGirl's face when she saw Tobey had not escaped Scoops.

"I didn't count on witnesses," Scoops remarked. "Emmy!" Emmy whipped out a gun and forced Tobey against the wall.

"No! Wait!" WordGirl cried. Scoops turned back to her, a thin smile playing along his face.

"Now, just take your hands off that helmet, WordGirl," he said with devastating calmness. WordGirl's wide eyes flickered between Scoops and the empty alley, desperately seeking a way to get Tobey out of there.

"All right," she consented even while a shudder ran through her at the thought of letting her alter ego be uncovered. "I will-if you let me heal Tobey so he can go."

"Fine," Scoops returned after a moment. "I don't suppose he'll tell anyone about this either-especially since he will end up being the one the city thinks blew up the building if either of you say a word." Scoops glared at them both. Tobey said nothing. He was wild-eyed from pain and did not even seem to hear what Scoops was saying. Scoops rolled his eyes and let go of WordGirl. She flew over to Tobey.

"WordGirl," he panted as she looked his cut over, "where's Becky? Did you see her? I got her out and threw myself out the back, but my arm got caught and I had to take the stairs down, and some of them were missing. I never saw her again. Is she all right?"

WordGirl felt her heart split as wide open as Tobey's arm as she laid her hand on it and watched the cut disappearing and the arm fusing together again. "She's fine," she forced herself to say. "She got out early, thanks to you. She told me to tell you she was looking for you, and Tobey-" WordGirl's voice broke as she suddenly understood that this might be the last time she talked to Tobey, at least as only WordGirl. When Tobey found out she was Becky along with the rest of the world, everything would change so drastically. "She said to tell you she loved you." Tobey's eyes jumped from his arm to WordGirl's face, seeming to finally realize just what was going on.

"They're taking your identity? WordGirl, you don't have to let them do that just because of me," he whispered brokenly.

"Hush. I have no choice," WordGirl replied as she healed the last of the long cut. "I used most of my powers already…" But WordGirl didn't have time to finish. Her voice became weaker, and she fell halfway to the ground. Before Tobey had time to ask her what she meant, Emmy shoved him to the wall again. "You said you'd let him go," WordGirl protested, looking up at Scoops with all the righteous indignation of a superhero she could muster.

"I said I'd let you heal him so that he could go; I never said he actually could," Scoops snidely returned. WordGirl weakly tried to fight, but he easily grabbed her wrist.

"Well, what are we doing with him if we're not letting him go?" Emmy interjected. Scoops sent her a warning look and returned his gaze to WordGirl. Emmy's lips parted, and for a moment, her gun faltered.

Scoops' face twisted into a sneer as he looked down at WordGirl, who was clearly weakened. "I guess fixing McCallister was the last straw for you," Scoops triumphed as he started to pull off the helmet.

"Emmy? Is that you?" A shadow filled the alley. Scoops flung WordGirl against the wall and turned toward the sound, pulling out his own gun. Eugene Hyson stood at the entrance, swaying from his concussion, his eyes fixed on Emmy. Emmy cried out once, glanced at Scoops with horror filling her eyes, and put her gun away. She ran for Eugene.

"You were in there," she murmured. "Oh, Eugene, I'm so sorry. I'm so-"

"_Emmy!"_ Scoops shouted, turning his gun toward Tobey and motioning him against the wall next to WordGirl. "What do you think you're doing?" Emmy turned back around.

"None of what you're doing right now was in the plan," she said.

"Getting WordGirl's identity was," Scoops argued loudly. "Don't you want to see what we worked for? What we _lost everything_ for?"

"Todd, Victoria was picked up a while ago, Hunter ran away about that time, Dick hasn't been seen since the detonation, and Eugene is hurt." Emmy stared at Scoops. "It's not worth it," she declared. With that, she walked away with Eugene. Scoops stood still for a moment, then shook his fist after them.

"Fine!" he cried. "I'll do it myself!" He turned back to WordGirl and, still holding his gun on Tobey, placed a hand on her helmet.

WordGirl saw so many things in that one moment, even if her super sight had failed her: Scoops' face, his gun, and Tobey's eyes, desperately wanting to help. The remnant of her super hearing picked up voices outside the alley. They seemed familiar, and desperate too, like her. But they disappeared to WordGirl as she shut her eyes and the loosened helmet easily gave under Scoops' tugging.

The hair that tumbled down as the helmet lifted, the long, beautiful, shimmering brown strands, was a dead giveaway in itself. Scoops started back, dropping the helmet on the ground. Tobey stood frozen, stunned. There was an awful, still moment.

"Becky?" Tobey whispered. Becky felt herself leaning toward the ground. Tobey came forward and gently raised her to her feet. Wrapping her in his arms, he faced Scoops, defiantly holding Becky as she sagged against him. Scoops stood facing them with his gun drawn, trying to decide what to do. He obviously hadn't counted on WordGirl being a friend of his. Scoops' eyes softened for a moment, and Tobey wondered if he would change his mind. The moment proved to be short-lived. Scoops pulled out his cell phone, keeping his gun pointed at Tobey while he pressed a button.

"I am now calling the Big City Times," he said, but his tone was different. It sounded less confident and tenser. "Either of you move, and you'll be sorry." Tobey took a step toward Scoops, but Becky held him back.

"Don't, Tobey," she whispered. "It's too late." Scoops stiffened and shook his gun at Tobey. Tobey gazed at Scoops steadily, trying to calculate what Scoops was thinking.

"Don't you think you're making a mistake?" Tobey asked calmly, half-turning so that his side instead of Becky's back was in line with Scoops' gun. Scoops recoiled. His breath came faster, and the hand that held the cell phone shook, but his right hand stayed clenched on the gun.

"No!" Scoops retorted. "So you can just-"

"You'd better listen to him, Scoops," a soft, gently reasoning voice spoke out. Becky heard footsteps, but with her head pressed into Tobey's shoulder and her senses shaky, she couldn't tell who had entered the alley. Tobey quickly covered Becky's head with her cape. Scoops whirled around to face the new intruder.

"Scoops, what are you doing?" Violet asked. "Is this what you wanted?" Scoops glared at Violet, sweat beginning to stand out on his brow.

"Get out of here," he commanded tersely. Violet slowly walked in front of Tobey, hardly glancing at WordGirl.

"Give me the phone and put the gun down, Scoops," she said. "If you don't, you'll either go to jail, or you're going to have to get rid of me, too." Scoops shook his head in a confused way. Violet advanced toward him.

"Stay back!" Scoops yelled. Violet held out her hand. Scoops made a sound that was almost a scream, his whole body trembling. He raised the gun. Violet didn't flinch. Then, the gun clattered to the ground as it fell from Scoops' hand. He lowered the hand with the phone until it touched Violet's. She took the phone. Scoops let out a sob, hugged her tightly, and then fell to the ground.

"Violet, could you hand me the helmet?" Tobey asked with a sigh of relief. Violet gave the helmet to Tobey and knelt beside Scoops while Tobey helped Becky mask her secret again. "Are you okay?" Tobey asked, bending toward Becky.

"I'll be fine once my powers recharge," WordGirl replied, fastening the helmet. She looked at Tobey. "Thanks," she said.

"No problem," Tobey replied awkwardly.

"I can fly now," WordGirl said. She looked away from Tobey. "I need to take Scoops to the hospital."

"Wait!" Tobey called, but WordGirl had already flown away with Scoops. Tobey stood alone in the alley except for Violet.

"Scoops just fainted because he was so upset," Violet said reassuringly to herself.

"Did you see who WordGirl was?" Tobey asked.

"No," Violet replied. "I was trying not to. It's a great secret, Tobey."

"I know," Tobey replied, swallowing a lump in his throat.

"I guess Emmy and Eugene left to talk things over," Violet said. "I need to go to the hospital."

"Can I come with you?" Tobey asked.

"Sure," Violet said, regarding Tobey with the old understanding in her eyes.

A few hours later, Violet, Tobey, and WordGirl, who had remained at the hospital, were summoned by a nurse. "Todd Ming will be fine," the nurse assured them. "However, he's been going through extreme mental trauma and does not remember WordGirl's face. We examined him; we thought it seemed a little strange that he'd only forget that moment. We've concluded that he was around your healing powers for too long, WordGirl, and the fading powers coming into the open mixed with the stress his mind was under erased the recollection."

"Poetic justice," Tobey murmured.

"He's already confessed to the bombing," the nurse went on. "He and a girl named Emmy Woods have given the police the names of everyone involved, including a Dick Prescott. He was too near the bomb, apparently, and is in the hospital paralyzed from the waist down." The nurse shook her head.

"So, Scoops doesn't know," WordGirl breathed.

"Scoops and Emmy will probably spend time in jail, but they'll get a much lighter sentence than if anyone had been killed, or if they hadn't confessed to their crimes," the nurse informed her. Violet rose.

"May I see him?" she asked.

"Certainly. He's to be released from the hospital as soon as he wants to be," the nurse replied. Violet waved goodbye to WordGirl and Tobey and followed the nurse.

"I guess we can go, then," WordGirl said. She started to leave, but Tobey put his hand on her arm.

"WordGirl, I need to talk to you. I'm sorry," he began, searching for the right words. "I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, I know, but I'm sure there's some way I could forget this if you wanted me to. I'm sure I could get Doctor Two-brains to make me a ray, or we could ask the doctors about what induces amnesia, or-" He stopped as WordGirl turned and gave him a half-amused look.

"I don't know-you could bang my head against a rock…" Tobey continued. WordGirl started walking slowly out the doors, and Tobey followed. A smile started to form on her face as they made their way down the steps outside the hospital where Tobey had first told WordGirl he wanted to make amends for his former life. WordGirl paused on the middle step.

"Is this going to make any difference between you and Becky?" she asked.

"_No_," Tobey replied emphatically. "I hate to break it to you, but I'm over you, WordGirl. I'm in love with Becky now." WordGirl let her smile cover her whole face.

"I was hoping you'd say that," she said. "I was just afraid you wouldn't." She straightened. "Well, in that case, I see no reason why you shouldn't know," she said. "Unless Becky just feels like breaking your head over a rock one day." Tobey smiled.

"I guess you should go," he said. "I want to see Becky." WordGirl waved and flew away. Thirty seconds later, Becky climbed the steps.

"Hi," she said. "What did I miss?"

"Well, I said goodbye to WordGirl-again," Tobey replied, enclosing Becky in his arms. She crinkled her nose at him.

"I hope it didn't break her heart," Becky remarked.

"Did it?" Tobey asked casually, leaning in toward Becky. She laughed softly.

"Somehow, I think she's perfectly fine," Becky answered. Tobey smiled and took her hand.

"Let's go home. I'll drive you if my car hasn't been damaged."

"Let's go see," Becky replied, falling in step with Tobey. She saw Violet and Scoops, who were walking hand-in-hand down the hospital steps, and waved to them. A policeman followed them, but Becky could see that Scoops had all the support he needed. Violet broke away from Scoops for a moment and headed toward Becky and Tobey.

"He's sorry," Violet said as she reached them. "He says he'll apologize to WordGirl in a statement for the paper as soon as he can. I know he'll never do that again."

"That's good news," Becky replied. Violet nodded.

"I'm so thankful," she murmured as she rejoined Scoops. Becky smiled at Tobey.

"Isn't it funny how things work out?" she questioned.

"Yeah. I found out that the girl I though I loved was the girl I should have loved all along," Tobey replied. "And now all I hope is that the girl I should have loved knows that I love her now." Becky made a face at Tobey and nodded silently.

"Oh, stop trying to confuse me," she said. Tobey laughed, and the couple's arms circled around each other as they started off. Becky breathed a sigh of relief and contentment. The shadow of Tobey's past life had finally begun to recede into the distance, and a sunny horizon started to glow as Becky walked away from her last disaster that would happen without Tobey McCallister there beside her.

The End


End file.
